Automotive toy



July 1, 1925.

H. W. FEHR AUTOMOTIVE TOY Filed Dec. 5. 1923 I INVENTOI? WITNESS Patented July 7, 1925.

F E-t HARRY -w. senator; PHILADELPHIA, BfiflNSYI NANIA Arrro lto'nvn TOY; I

' H I Application. filednecember 3 i923. 'sriaim. 678,093.

To all whom it "may concern Be it known'that I, HARRY 'VV. Flinn, a

V citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improve:

ments in Automotive'Toys, of which the followingfis a specification;

' My'invention relates to toys and particu larly to'those which are providedwith a motor, spring or electric, for impelling the toy over, a plane surface and more particularly to the providing of such a toy or device with .meansto cause'thetoy to change 7 its course or direction whenever it encounte'rsanfobstruction.' if v a 1 v The'principal objects oflmy invention are to provide apower' driven toy with means which will cause the toy to rebound and at thesametime skid, often through an angle as great :as 180, when the toy collides squarely with a rigid object, and willcause the toy to slide around and clearg'a small rigid object, such as the leg of a chair or a table, wh en the toy strikes the same obliquely or not squarely. Y 1A further object of my invention is to provide anautomotive toy with a resilient device which will change the direction of thetravel of the toy when it encounters an obstruction, will; cause the toy toslide clear ofthe'obstruction, enabling the toy to=contin'ue its travel until it strikes another object, whereupon the toy will againchange itsidirection of. travel, and move inthenew direction, until it. strikesfan obstruction, when the operation is,repeat'ed', and so "on until the motor contained in the toyfis run down or exhausted. y f

A further object of my invention is to provide an automotive toy having iwheels rotating oiraxes whi cli are fixed withre- .spect'to each other, with a resilient member projecting forwardly of'thetoyto cause the toyto-rebound and in rebounding to skid andchange thedirection of its-travel after it. collides squarelywith Ta substantially rigid object. g

My invention further comprehendsflmecb anism, the frame or-body of which may enibody a variety .ofdifferent forms of toys, such as automobiles, boats, cars, animal figures, or any othersuitable forms ,The formof my invention hereinafter.de

seribedieconrprises toy provided, wit

frame having spring driven rotary supports or wheels, and a resilient bumper or deflector, so bowed or-shaped that its crest or mostwfor wardly extending surface is disposed somewhat on one side of a vertical planecoincident with the longitudinal axis of the toy. Such plane will usually be substantially between the wheels on opposite sides'of the toy. My invention also includes all of the va rious novel features of construction and arrangements of parts hereinafter more definitely set forth in the specification and claims below.

In the accompanying drawing' F ig. 1 is a plan view of an automotivetoy convenientlyembodying my invention.

" Fig. 2 is-a side "elevational view of the I device shown'in F igQ 1 and having indicated thereon in dot-and dash lines the body of an enclosed automobile, ner in which the mechanism may be made to resemble any particular or selected object.

' Fig: 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the forward end of the toy provided with a vas illustratingthe manslightly modified form' of resilient bumper or deflector embodying my' invention and Fig. 4 similarly shows afur ther modification of inyinventioni 1 In the drawings, the motor frame 1. is of any well-known form" and type having a pair of front wheels2, 2 and a pair ofrear wheels 3, '3, the axis 4 of thefront wheels and the axisfi of the rearjwheels being fixedwith respectv to eachother and to'the frame 1 so that thetoy will travel normally in one direction on'ly,in a'straight line,vif the axes be; parallel orin a circular'path'if the axes] lie-slightly inclined to each other and'the frame; The driving Wheels 2, 2 are preferably rigidly mounted on the shaft 6extend-V ingthrough the frame 1, but't'he other pair of wheel's 3,, 3 which may not be driving wheels, may be' 'mounted to rotate freely on the shaft"?- The shaft 6' is provided with a pinion :8 which meshes with a gear 9 on shaft 10 whichalso carries a pinion 11 which meshes with a gear 12 rigidly secured to a Zshaft 13 tofwhich' is also rigidly secured a pinion 141 which meshes with a gear 15 on the spring 'ormotfor. drum-16. This train of gearing may be disposed within the frame "in anyf'suitable manner. "The shaft 17 on which is mounted the spring drum 16 may be a1 winding shaft 'which would bepro.

vided with a key 18 for winding the spring in the drum 16. The shaft 6 may also be provided with a gear 19 driving a pinion 2O rigid with the governor shaft 21 of any suitable governing mechanism 22.

The motor frame 1 may also comprise any form of toy, such for example as form 1 of an automobile, but it is to be understood that it may simulate a street car, a locomotive, a boat, or an animal, bird, fish or insect; in fact, almost anything that would be attractiveor interesting as a toy.

The frame or body 1 is provided with a spring bumper or deflector 23, the foremost portion or crest 24 of which is rounded outwardly, is convex in shape, and is located on one side of a vertical plane coincident with the longitudinal axis 25 of the oy which is substantially midway between the wheels on opposite sides of the toy.

The front portions 26 and 27 of said bumper on either sideof said rounded or convex portion 2% are also preferablymonvex and curve smoothly rearwardly and laterally, ex-

tending laterally beyond any projecting part or portion of the frame or body 1. Thus, when there is a key 18 permanently protruding laterally from the toy, the por- 28 extend laterally at least as far as the end of the key. Similarly, if the body be made to simulate any object, such as an animal having projections on the sides thereof, the front of the bumper should extend laterally on that side as far or slightly farther than such projecting part or portion. Theends 28 and 29 of the lateral sides of .the bumper are also preferably rounded and bent to form inwardly extending portions 30 and 31 which respectively terminate in integrally rearwardly extending ends 32 and 33 which may be rigidly secured to any suitable part of the toy, as to the side of the motor plate by screws or rivets 3 1 or in any other suitable manner.

' reason of the bumper.

In'Fig. 1 the rearwardly extending end portions 32 and 33 are of differentlengths and contribute to theunsymmetrical shape The extent and direction of the rebound of the toy after a collision, is somewhat variable, depending to a great extent upon the place of the forward portion of the bumper where the impact occurs. When the toy is impelled rapidly forwardly and squarely against an obstruction, such as 'a vertical wall indicated by the dot and-dash lines in Fig. 1 and in a direction normal thereto, the crest or most forwardly extending portion 24f will strike squarely against the wall, the-bumper will be compressed and the toy will rebound from the wall, but by a of the fact that the spring is unsymmetrical and that the point of impact is 'on one side of a vert cal plane coincident with the longitudinal axis of the toy, the

toyin rebounding will skid and turn through angle, as on one of the rearwardly extending convex sides 26, 27, then the toy may rebound somewhat, and skid a little, or it may then slide along the wall or may bump back and forth until it turns enough to travel along the wall to collide with the next obstruction.

The bumper shown in Fig. 3 like that shown in Fig. 1 except that the length of the 'rearwardly extending end 33 is equal to that of the end 32 and extends the same distance forwardly of the frame 1. In this its action is substantially the same as that of the device as shown in Fig. 1 except that it may not cause the toy to skid or rebound through quite so great an angle because the spring approaches a little closer to a symmetrical shape.

'When the forward part of the bumper of the toy strikes against some obstruction, such as the leg 36 of a table, the toy will rebound somewhat and will turn in rebounding away from the object and will push forward again against the object, the smooth convex surface of theportio'n 27 sliding over the surface of the obstruction 36 until the rounded end 29 slides past the obstruction 36. This makes it apparent why it is that the bumper should extend laterally farther than any projection on the side of the toy because if the bumper did not extend as far as it does then, for instance, the key might catch upon the object and impede or prevent its further progress.

Fig. 4 shows a further modification of the invention in which one side or end only of the bumper 23 is attached to the frame or body 1. In this construction the rearwardly extending front portion 26 between the crest 2a and the rounded end 28 is long while the other portion, 27 is short and close to the rounded end 29. In this modification the inwardly extending portion 31' is also short and the end 33 is preferably bent inwardly so that the end cannot catch upon a stationary object but will permit the toy, after the end 29 of the bumper clears the same, to proceed under its own power until another obstacle is encountered. In this form of the device, when the crest 24 of the bumper 23" strikes squarely against an obstacle and rebounds, the skid may be even greater than that shown in the other two previously described modifications, the resiliency of the springs being substantially the same, but when it strikes an object at an angle, as for instance the leg 36 of a chair, the rearward slope of the portion 26 is someis exactly l Oil ios two previously described constructions-and therefore the device will slide around an object with greater ease perhaps than in the other two modifications.

In all the embodiments of my invention, when the crest strikes squarely against any object, the bumper is compressed and this causes the toy to rebound and skid through an angle sufiicient to make it start in a new direction. When an object is encountered at some other place in the crest," then the toy may rebound and skid or it may slide around the object in the manner above described, and afterwards travel under its own power in a new direction. In all of the embodiments of my invention, the width of the bumper or deflectoris so great that when the bumper clears an object, then the whole device will also clear thesame and travel past it, and continue to move in a.

substantially straight path until some new obstruction is encountered.

It is to be noted that change in the die er or deflector that the toy, upon squarely encountering an obstruction, rebounds and skids laterally sufiiciently to be diverted away from such obstruction irrespective of whether the obstacle presents a plane, curved or other surface.

I do not desire to limit my invention to the precise details of construction and arrangement hereinabove set forth, as it is obvious that various modifications may be made therein Without departing from the essential features of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an automotive toy I comprising a frame or body, two pairs of wheels mounted to rotate on axes fixed with respect to each other and to said body, and a motor mounted in said frame to propel said toy, the combination of a resilient spring secured to and projecting forwardly from said body, the foremost portion of said spring being on one side of a vertical longitudinal plane substantially midway between'the wheels.

2. In an automotive toy comprising a frame or body, two pairs of wheels mounted to rotate on axes fixed with respect to each other and to said body, and a motor mounted in said frame to propel said toy, the'combination of a resilient spring having a convex front face secured to and projecting forwardly from said body, the foremost portionof said spring being at one side of a vertical longitudinal plane substantially midway between the wheels.

3. An automotive toy comprising a frame and a motor mounted in said frame to pro-' pel said toy, the combination of a resilient bumper and deflector-extending forwardly therefrom, the foremost portion of said bumper being rounded and located on one side of a vertical longitudinal plane coincident with the longitudinal axis of the toy, and the portions of said bumper on each side of said rounded portion being smoothly curved rearwardly.

LIn an automotive toy comprising a frame or body, and a motor mounted in saidframe to propel said toy, the combination of a resilient bumper and deflector extending forwardly from said body, the foremost portion of said bumper being rounded and located on one side of a vertical plane coincident with the longitudinal axis of the toy, and the portions of said bumper on each side of said rounded portion being smoothly curved rearwardly and extending laterally farther from said plane than any part or'portion of said body.

' 5. In an automotive toy comprising a frame, two pairs of wheels mounted in said frame, .a motor mounted in said frame to rotate one pair of said wheels'to propel said toy, the combination of a resilient spring secured to and projecting forwardly of said frame, the foremost portion of said spring being on one side of a vertical longitudinal plane substantially midway between the wheels. v

6. In an automotive toy comprising a frame and two pairs of wheels supporting said frame, a motor mounted in said frame for rotating the forward pair of wheels to propel said toy, the combination of a resilient spring secured to and projecting forwardly from said frame, the foremost portion of said spring being on one side of a vertical longitudinal plane substantially midway between'the wheels.

7 The combination with an automotive toy, of a'resilient bumper affording a pro- -jection disposed on one side of a vertical plane coincident with the longitudinal axis of the toy, and having the front portions on opposite sides of said projection smoothly curved rearwardly and extending laterally be ond the opposite sides of said toy.

' n witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of November, 1923.

HARRY w. FEHR. 

